Today In History.

Therefore I wrote: officiary

Today is Good Friday, April-10

What was happen in:

1849 The New Yorker Walter Hunt files a patent for the safety pin, that he contrived.

1979 In Vienna is opened the subway-station "Stephansplatz" (midst the city of Vienna)

1991 The very last car with the name "Wartburg" leaved the automobile manufactury in Eisenach/Thuringia (East-Germany). Cars with name "Wartburg" was made there since 1956.
(for better understanding check this)

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Saturday, April-11.

What was happen in

1963: Pope Johannes XXIII. publicized the peace encyclical "Pacem in terris". With this circular the pontifex the first time didn't accost the Catholics only but all "people of good will".

1979: The invasion of Tanzanian troops in Kampala finished the reign of terror by the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada which took eight years. During his reign lost nearly a half million people their life.

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Saturday, April 11, the 101st day of 2009. There are 264 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon. (The astronauts managed to return safely).

On this date:

In 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba.

In 1898, as tensions with Spain continued to rise, President William McKinley asked Congress to authorize military intervention in Cuba.

In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East.

In 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

In 1988, the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways jetliner killed a second hostage, dumping his body onto the ground in Larnaca, Cyprus.

In 1989, Mexican officials began unearthing the remains of victims of a drug-trafficking cult near Matamoros; one of the dead was University of Texas student Mark Kilroy, who had disappeared while on spring break. (Several cult members were later convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison.)

In 2001, ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane.

Ten years ago: The Justice Department reported that more than a third of the women in state prisons and jails said they were physically or sexually abused as children. Jose Maria Olazabal won the Masters by two shots over Davis Love III.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush defended his response to a briefing memo from August 2001 about possible terrorist plots against the United States, saying he was ``satisfied that some of the matters were being looked into'' and that there were no specific threats against New York and Washington. Pope John Paul II celebrated Easter Mass with calls for world leaders to resolve conflicts in Iraq, the Holy Land and Africa. Phil Mickelson's agonizing pursuit of a major ended at the Masters when he made an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

One year ago: Group of Seven financial officials meeting in Washington pledged to strengthen their regulation of banks and other financial institutions while anxiously hoping the credit crisis in the United States would be a short one. French troops captured six pirates after the pirates released 30 hostages who were aboard the French luxury yacht Le Ponant when it was seized off Somalia's coast.

Today's Birthdays: Former New York State Gov. Hugh Carey is 90. Ethel Kennedy is 81. Actor Johnny Sheffield is 78. Actor Joel Grey is 77. Actress Louise Lasser is 70. Syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman is 68. Movie writer-director John Milius is 65. Actor Peter Riegert is 62. Actor Meshach Taylor is 62. Movie director Carl Franklin is 60. Actor Bill Irwin is 59. Country singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale is 52. Songwriter-producer Daryl Simmons is 52. Rock musician Nigel Pulsford is 48. Actor Lucky Vanous is 48. Country singer Steve Azar is 45. Singer Lisa Stansfield is 43. Rock musician Dylan Keefe (Marcy Playground) is 39. Actor Johnny Messner is 39. Actor Vicellous Shannon is 38. Rapper David Banner is 35. Actress Tricia Helfer is 35. Rock musician Chris Gaylor (The All-American Rejects) is 30. Singer Joss Stone is 22.

Thought for Today: ``We think in generalities, but we live in detail.'' - Alfred North Whitehead, British philosopher (1861-1947)

Slàinte,    

Patch    

Today is Easter Sunday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2009. There are 263 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

On this date:

In 1606, England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.

In 1877, the catcher's mask was first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks.

In 1908, fire devastated the city of Chelsea, Mass.

In 1934, ``Tender Is the Night'' by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published in book form by Charles Scribner's Sons after being serialized in Scribner's Magazine.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.

In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on its first test flight.

In 1983, Chicagoans went to the polls to elect Harold Washington the city's first black mayor.

In 1989, former boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson died in Culver City, Calif., at age 67; radical activist Abbie Hoffman was found dead at his home in New Hope, Pa., at age 52.

Ten years ago: U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright cited President Bill Clinton for contempt of court, concluding that the president had lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky in a deposition in the Paula Jones case. A jury in Little Rock, Ark., acquitted Susan McDougal of obstructing Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's Whitewater inquiry and deadlocked on two other charges, causing a mistrial.

Five years ago: A federal judge allowed a nationwide ban on dietary supplements containing ephedra to take effect, turning aside a plea from two manufacturers. Abelardo Flores and Fatima Holloway pleaded guilty in Houston to taking part in a smuggling scheme that resulted in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants abandoned in a sweltering truck trailer. Barry Bonds hit his 660th home run to tie godfather Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list.

One year ago: Democrat Barack Obama conceded that comments he'd made privately during a fundraiser about bitter working class voters who ``cling to guns or religion'' were ill chosen. Boston College won the NCAA hockey championship, 4-1, over Notre Dame. The United States won its second women's world hockey championship, upsetting Canada 4-3 in Harbin, China.

Today's Birthdays: Country singer Ned Miller is 84. Actress Jane Withers is 83. Opera singer Montserrat Caballe is 76. Actor Charles Napier is 73. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is 69. Actor Frank Bank (``Leave It to Beaver'') is 67. Rock singer John Kay (Steppenwolf) is 65. Actor Ed O'Neill is 63. Author Tom Clancy is 62. Actor Dan Lauria is 62. Talk show host David Letterman is 62. Author Scott Turow is 60. Singer David Cassidy is 59. Actor-playwright Tom Noonan is 58. Rhythm-and-blues singer JD Nicholas (The Commodores) is 57. Singer Pat Travers is 55. Actor Andy Garcia is 53. Movie director Walter Salles is 53. Country singer Vince Gill is 52. Actress Suzzanne (cq) Douglas is 52. Rock musician Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) is 51. Rock singer Art Alexakis (Everclear) is 47. Country singer Deryl Dodd is 45. Folk-pop singer Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) is 45. Actress Alicia Coppola is 41. Rock singer Nicholas Hexum (311) is 39. Actor Nicholas Brendon is 38. Actress Shannen Doherty is 38. Actress Marley Shelton is 35. Actress Jordana Spiro is 32. Rock musician Guy Berryman (Coldplay) is 31. Actress Claire Danes is 30. Actress Jennifer Morrison is 30. Rock singer-musician Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco) is 22. Actress Saoirse Ronan (``Atonement'') is 15.

Thought for Today: ``Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.'' - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)

Slàinte,    

Patch    

Today is Monday, April 13, the 103rd day of 2009. There are 262 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 13, 1743, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born in Shadwell, Va.

On this date:

In 1598, King Henry IV of France endorsed the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to the Protestant Huguenots. (The edict was abrogated in 1685 by King Louis XIV, who declared France entirely Catholic again.)

In 1742, Handel's ``Messiah'' was first performed publicly in Dublin, Ireland.

In 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was incorporated in New York. (The original museum opened in 1872.)

In 1909, author Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Miss.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial.

In 1958, American pianist Van Cliburn, 23, won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for ``Lilies of the Field.''

In 1970, Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.)

In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of worship.

In 1992, the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city's century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River.

Ten years ago: Right-to-die advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Mich., to 10 to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder in the lethal injection of a Lou Gehrig's disease patient. (Kevorkian ended up serving eight years.)

Five years ago: Conceding a couple of ``tough weeks in Iraq,'' President George W. Bush signaled he was ready to put more American troops on the front lines and use decisive force if necessary to restore order despite ``gut-wrenching'' televised images of fallen Americans. Barry Bonds hit his 661st homer, passing Willie Mays to take sole possession of third place on baseball's career list. Swimmer Michael Phelps won the 2003 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete.

One year ago: World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged immediate action to deal with mounting food prices that had caused hunger and deadly violence in several countries. Trevor Immelman won the Masters, becoming the first South African to wear a green jacket in 30 years. A construction worker's bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot. Physicist John A. Wheeler, who coined the term ``black holes,'' died in Hightstown, N.J., at age 96.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director Stanley Donen is 85. Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is 76. Actor Lyle Waggoner is 74. Actor Edward Fox is 72. Playwright Lanford Wilson is 72. Actor Paul Sorvino is 70. Movie and TV composer Bill Conti is 67. Rock musician Jack Casady is 65. Actor Tony Dow is 64. Singer Al Green is 63. Actor Ron Perlman is 59. Actor William Sadler is 59. Singer Peabo Bryson is 58. ``Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' bandleader/rock musician Max Weinberg is 58. Bluegrass singer-musician Sam Bush is 57. Rock musician Jimmy Destri is 55. Singer-musician Louis Johnson (The Brothers Johnson) is 54. Comedian Gary Kroeger is 52. Actress Saundra Santiago is 52. Rock musician Joey Mazzola (Sponge) is 48. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 46. Actress Page Hannah is 45. Actress-comedian Caroline Rhea is 45. Rock musician Lisa Umbarger is 44. Rock musician Marc Ford is 43. Reggae singer Capleton is 42. Actor Ricky Schroder is 39. Rock singer Aaron Lewis (Staind) is 37. Actor Bokeem Woodbine is 36. Singer Lou Bega is 34. Actor-producer Glenn Howerton is 33. Basketball player Baron Davis is 30. Actress Courtney Peldon is 28. Pop singer Nellie McKay is 27.

Thought for Today: ``The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.''

Slàinte,    

Patch    

some more today's highlights in history:

April-14 in:

754: In the treaty of Quierzy the Frankish king Pippin promised to give the town of Ravenna to Pope Stephan II. This gift is the basement for the Papal states.

1759: The composer G.F. Händel passed away in his house in the London Brook street. He wrote down 40 operas and 25 oratorios (among other the "Messiah")

1919: The Austrian (Ex-) emperor Karl and his family leaved the castle Eckertsau and went to exile to Switzerland.

1929: In Monaco the first time happend a car racing for the Grand Prix of Monaco.

1939: By the so called "Ostmark-law" were liquidated the Austrian Federal Lands and changed into (German) "Reichsgau"-areas.

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Wednesday, April 15, the 105th day of 2009. There are 260 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

In the early hours of April 15, 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg. Some 1,500 people died.

On this date:

In 1817, the first American school for the deaf opened in Hartford, Conn.

In 1850, the city of San Francisco was incorporated.

In 1861, three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, President Abraham Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died, several hours after being shot at Ford's Theater in Washington by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson became the nation's 17th president.

In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson, baseball's first black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day. (The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.)

In 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived in Washington to begin a goodwill tour of the United States. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles resigned for health reasons. (He was succeeded by Christian A. Herter).

In 1986, the United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5th; Libya said 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

In 1989, 96 people died in a crush of soccer fans at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. Students in Beijing launched a series of pro-democracy protests; the demonstrations culminated in a government crackdown at Tiananmen Square.

In 1998, Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 73, evading prosecution for the deaths of 2 million Cambodians.

Ten years ago: A gunman opened fire at the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City, killing two people and wounding four others before being shot to death by police.

Five years ago: In a videotape, a man identifying himself as Osama bin Laden offered a ``truce'' to European countries that did not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers left Islamic nations. Iraqi militants freed three Japanese hostages after holding them about a week. In the finale to the first edition of the NBC reality show ``The Apprentice,'' Donald Trump ``hired'' Bill Rancic over Kwame Jackson during a segment that was telecast live.

One year ago: Pope Benedict XVI stepped onto U.S. soil for the first time as pontiff as he was greeted at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington by President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush and their daughter Jenna. Bombings blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq tore through market areas in Baghdad and outside the capital, killing nearly 60 people. Actress Hazel Court, who'd costarred with Boris Karloff and Vincent Price in horror movies of the 1950s and '60s, died near Lake Tahoe, Calif., at age 82.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Michael Ansara is 87. Country singer Roy Clark is 76. Rock singer-guitarist Dave Edmunds is 65. Actress Lois Chiles is 62. Writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is 62. Actress Amy Wright is 59. Columnist Heloise is 58. Actress-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 50. Bluegrass musician Jeff Parker is 48. Singer Samantha Fox is 43. Rock musician Ed O'Brien (Radiohead) is 41. Actor Flex Alexander is 39. Actor Danny Pino is 35. Actor-writer Seth Rogen is 27. Actress Alice Braga is 26. Rock musician De'Mar Hamilton (Plain White T's) is 25. Football player Antonio Cromartie is 25. Actress Emma Watson is 19

Slàinte,    

Patch    

Hi Patch,

two of my points you wrote down already - but one I still have:

April-15 in 1951: In Imst/Tyrol (Austria) Hermann Gmeiner founded the first SOS-Children's Village. The house obtained the name "Peace". The organization SOS-Children's Village is active today in 132 countries worldwide.
If you're interested, watch also the link too.

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Thursday, April 16, the 106th day of 2009. There are 259 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 16, 1789, President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Va., for his inauguration in New York.

On this date:

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia.

In 1879, St. Bernadette, who'd described seeing visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, died in Nevers, France.

In 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.

In 1935, the radio comedy program ``Fibber McGee and Molly'' premiered on the NBC Blue Network.

In 1947, the French ship Grandcamp blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the High Flyer, exploded the following day. The blasts and resulting fires killed nearly 600 people.

In 1962, Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of ``The CBS Evening News.''

In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.

In 1996, Britain's Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced they were in the process of getting a divorce.

In 2007, in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech before taking his own life.

Ten years ago: President Bill Clinton defended NATO airstrikes against Serbian targets during visits to Michigan and Massachusetts, saying U.S. involvement in Kosovo was a moral imperative. Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement from hockey.

Five years ago: Videotape broadcast on the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera showed Army Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, abducted during an attack on a fuel truck convoy near Baghdad a week earlier. (Arab television reported June 29th, 2004, that Maupin had been killed; his remains were recovered last year.) President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meeting in Washington, endorsed giving the United Nations broad control over Iraq's political future.

One year ago: The Supreme Court upheld the most widely used method of lethal injection, allowing states to resume executions after a seven-month halt. Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by President George W. Bush as only the second pope to visit the White House and the first in 29 years. Mathematician-meteorologist Edward Lorenz, the father of ``chaos theory,'' died in Cambridge, Mass., at age 90.

Today's Birthdays: Pope Benedict XVI is 82. Actor Peter Mark Richman is 82. Singer Bobby Vinton is 74. Denmark's Queen Margrethe II is 69. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 62. Singer Gerry Rafferty is 62. Football coach Bill Belichick is 57. Rock singer-turned-politician Peter Garrett is 56. Actress Ellen Barkin is 55. Rock musician Jason Scheff (Chicago) is 47. Singer Jimmy Osmond is 46. Rock singer David Pirner (Soul Asylum) is 45. Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 44. Actor Jon Cryer is 44. Rock musician Dan Rieser is 43. Actor Peter Billingsley is 38. Actor Lukas Haas is 33.

Slàinte,    

Patch    

...some more today's highlights in history:

April-16 in

1521: Martin Luther arrived in Worms. He shall - after the intercession by Elector Friedrich III. of Saxony - explain and plead his theses in front of the Diet of Worms within the following two days once more.
For further informations: click here

1947: The American politician Bernard Baruch used the term "cold war" first time within a speech to a major audience and manifest it thereby.

1964: The Austrian Federal President Adolf Schärf opened the "Viennese International horticultural show" and also the 252m high "Danube-Tower". There are some informations about the tower

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Saturday, April 18, the 108th day of 2009. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

On this date: In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.

In 1907, San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel opened, a year to the day after the earthquake.

In 1934, 75 years ago, the first laundromat (called a ``washateria'') opened, in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.

In 1946, the League of Nations went out of business. In 1949, the Republic of Ireland was proclaimed.

In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.

In 1980, the independent nation of Zimbabwe, formerly Zimbabwe Rhodesia, came into being.

In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.

Ten years ago: NATO launched its most active day of airstrikes in its assault on Yugoslavia, pummeling refineries, bridges and dozens of other targets in the 25th straight day of attacks. Wayne Gretzky played his last National Hockey League game as his New York Rangers lost to Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Five years ago: Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered a withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, fulfilling a campaign pledge and trying to calm his uneasy nation after bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid.

One year ago: Addressing the United Nations, Pope Benedict XVI said international cooperation needed to solve urgent problems was ``in crisis'' because decisions rested in the hands of a few powerful nations. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth to her fifth child, a son named Trig.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Barbara Hale is 88. Actor Clive Revill is 79. Actor James Drury is 75. Actor Robert Hooks is 72. Actress Hayley Mills is 63. Actor James Woods is 62. Actress-director Dorothy Lyman is 62. Actress Cindy Pickett is 62. Country musician Walt Richmond (The Tractors) is 62. Country musician Jim Scholten (Sawyer Brown) is 57. Actor Rick Moranis is 56. Actress Melody Thomas Scott is 53. Actor Eric Roberts is 53. Actor John James is 53. Rock musician Les Pattinson (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 51. Author-journalist Susan Faludi is 50. Actress Mary Birdsong is 48. Actress Jane Leeves is 48. Talk show host Conan O'Brien is 46. Bluegrass singer-musician Terry Eldredge is 46. Actor Eric McCormack is 46. Actress Maria Bello is 42. Rock musician Greg Eklund (The Oolahs) is 39. Actor David Tennant is 38. Country musician Marvin Evatt is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Trina (Trina and Tamara) is 35. Actress Melissa Joan Hart is 33. Actor Sean Maguire is 33. Actress America Ferrera is 25. Actress Alia Shawkat is 20. Actor Moises Arias (``Hannah Montana'') is 15.

Thought for Today: ``Imagination is more important than knowledge.'' - Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Slàinte,    

Patch    

Today is Sunday, April 19, the 108th day of 2009. There are 256 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 19, 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

On this date:

In 1897, the first Boston Marathon was held; winner John J. McDermott ran the course in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.

In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.

In 1939, Connecticut became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect.

In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but futile battle against Nazi forces.

In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Harry S. Truman, bid farewell in an address to Congress in which he quoted a line from a ballad: ``Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.''

In 1982, astronauts Sally K. Ride and Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first woman and first African-American to be tapped for U.S. space missions.

In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member, Clayton Hartwig, had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.)

In 1989, Trisha Meili, a jogger in New York's Central Park, was brutally beaten and raped. (Five teenagers were convicted of the crime; all served prison time. But they were cleared in 2002 after another man, Matias Reyes, confessed.)

In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; dozens of people, including leader David Koresh, were killed.

In 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.)

Ten years ago: The German parliament inaugurated its new home in the restored Reichstag in Berlin, its prewar capital. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a federal law aimed at limiting e-mail smut did not violate free-speech rights. Joseph Chebet of Kenya won the Boston Marathon, in 2 hours, nine minutes, 52 seconds; Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia won the women's race in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 25 seconds.

Five years ago: A Russian rocket soared into space carrying an American, a Russian and a Dutchman to the international space station on the third manned mission since the halt of the U.S. shuttle program. Catherine Ndereba won the Boston Marathon for the third time, finishing in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 27 seconds; Timothy Cherigat won the men's race in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 37 seconds to complete a Kenyan sweep.

One year ago: President George W. Bush wrapped up two days of talks at Camp David with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. A Russian capsule carrying South Korea's first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, touched down 260 miles off target in northern Kazakhstan after hurtling through the atmosphere in a bone-jarring descent from the international space station.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Hugh O'Brian is 84. Actress Elinor Donahue is 72. Rock musician Alan Price (The Animals) is 67. Actor Tim Curry is 63. Pop singer Mark ``Flo'' Volman (The Turtles; Flo and Eddie) is 62. Actor Tony Plana (``Ugly Betty'') is 57. Former tennis player Sue Barker is 53. Recording executive Suge Knight is 44. Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is 42. Actress Ashley Judd is 41. Singer Bekka Bramlett is 41. Latin pop singer Luis Miguel is 39. Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux is 35. Actor James Franco is 31. Actress Kate Hudson is 30. Actor Hayden Christensen is 28. Actress Catalina Sandino Moreno is 28. Actor Courtland Mead is 22. Tennis player Maria Sharapova is 22.

Slàinte,    

Patch    

Today is Monday, April-20-2009.

What happened on April-20 in

1887: In France happened the first car racing worldwide. The Route was gone from Paris to Versailles and the victorious Steam-tricycle! The reached average speed was 23 km/h (14 mph).

1999: During a gun rampage on the Columbine High School in Littleton/Colorado died 12 pupils (14-18 years) one teacher and the both culprits Dylan Klebold (17) and Eric Harris (18).

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Tuesday April-21-2009.

What was happend on April-21 in

1509: Henry VIII. , the founder of the Anglican National Church became King of England and followed his late father Henry VII. who was founder of the Tudor-dynasty.

1856: Stonemasons and building workers eked out in Melbourne (Australia) the worldwide first eight-hour-day.

1944: The exile government of free France enacted per decret the voting right for women, which realized after the victory in WWII.

Best regards

Ingo

Today is Wednesday, April-22-2009.

What was happened on April-21 in

1401: A Hanseatic league armada conquered the Victual Brothers in a naval battle ahead Helgoland (North Sea). The leader of the pirates Klaus Störtebeker has been placed to the Hanseatic flagship "Bunte Kuh" (Checkered Cow).

1964: The New York World Exhibition was opened below the giant globe "Unisphere".

1994: The Norwegian Boerge Ousland arrived as the first human after a march of 52 days alone and by foot the North Pole.

Best regards

Ingo